The present invention relates to comparative type detecting means for a coin-collecting mechanism, and more particularly to comparative type detecting means which includes not only electromagnetic induction means to accurately examine the material of the coin inserted into the coin-collecting mechanism but also electric eyes to accurately check the diametrical size of the inserted coin. The present invention is an improvement made to an earlier invention of the applicant titled "ELECTRONIC COIN-COLLECTING MECHANISM" which has been granted a patent under U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,484 on Dec. 16, 1997.
A coin-collecting mechanism must be able to examine the correctness of a coin inserted into it. More particularly, the coin-collecting mechanism must be able to check the inserted coins for their correct material and size or diameter, lest the mechanism should be cheated to cause any loss.
In most currently available coin-collecting mechanism, the detection of any coin with incorrect diametrical size is done by means consisting of a coil and a high-frequency circuit. The high frequency will change with the temperature and will therefore have influence on the accuracy of the examination. Moreover, such detective means requires high manufacturing cost and is not economical if it is used to examine only one type of coin.
Another conventional way for checking the correct diametrical size of a coin inserted into a coin-collecting mechanism is to mount a row of electric eyes on a fixed coin slide way in the coin-collecting mechanism to detect any coin with incorrect diametrical size. Since the coin slide way is fixedly provided in the coin-collecting mechanism, the electric eyes mounted thereon also have fixed positions and are not movable. Under this condition, the electric eyes can only be used to identify a preset coin size. In other words, when the coin-collecting mechanism has been set to collect coins of a certain size, the positions of electric eyes on the coin slide way are decided at the same time. The detecting means, that is, the electric eyes of the coin-collecting mechanism can only accurately detect coin that does not meet the preset coin size. The use of the coin-collecting mechanism is therefore largely limited. FIG. 1 is a perspective showing the above-described detecting means. When the coin to be collected by the coin-collecting mechanism is changed, the whole detecting means, including the electric circuits thereof, in the mechanism must also be changed. To do so, a considerably high cost is required and will adversely affect the market.
Currently, the most popular detecting means for coin-collecting mechanism is a comparative type detecting means as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. This comparative type detecting means 1 mainly includes a movable slot way portion 2. Inside the movable slot way portion 2, there are three inductance coils. Two parallelly arranged and downward open slot ways, namely, a first slot way 21 and a second slot way 22 are formed at a lower part of the slot way portion 2. The first and the second slot way 21, 22 respectively aligns with a main slide way 11 and a secondary slide way 12 located below them in the coin-collecting mechanism. With the aid of other component, such as a spring, the whole slot way portion 2 maybe pivotally moved up or down relative to the main and the secondary slide ways 11, 12. A selected sample coin is disposed between the second slot way 22 and the secondary slide way 12. Under the action of electromagnetic induction of the inductance coils inside the movable slot way portion 2, a coin inserted into the coin-collecting mechanism and passing between the first slot way 21 and the main slide way 11 will be compared to the sample coin between the second slot way 22 and the secondary slide way 12. Only a coin exactly the same as the sample coin is allowed to pass through the first slot way 21 and the main slide way 11.
In the event the coin for the coin-collecting mechanism is to be changed, for example, from a smaller coin to a bigger coin, simply remove the previous sample coin from the second slot way 22 and the secondary slide way 12 and replace it with a newly selected sample coin. The detecting mechanism of the coin-collecting mechanism can then function with a new detection standard defined by the new sample coin. Thereafter, only coins the same as the new sample coin are allowed to pass the first slot way 21 and the main slide way 11 to enable a coin-operated machine associated with the coin-collecting mechanism.
According to tests, the above-described comparative type detecting means performs well to accurately detect coin with incorrect material but fails to accurately detect coin with incorrect diametrical size. That is, a true coin having different diametrical size from the sample coin may still be allowed to pass the coin examination, forming a dead corner in the detection.
In brief, the above-described comparative type detecting means for a coin-collecting mechanism is perfect for detecting incorrect coin material and is economically advantageous because it allows the same coin-collecting mechanism to be easily adjusted to accept a differently sized sample coins. However, the same detecting means is not able to accurately detect coins in incorrect diametrical size.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved comparative type detecting mechanism for a coin-collecting mechanism which maintains the advantages of the conventional comparative type detecting mechanism for coin-collecting mechanism and provides enhanced ability of detecting coin in incorrect diametrical size.